GUARDED ; eren jaeger

⌕the art of us.

He is solely a character that inhabits traits that are rather likely to draw close to the collected cards many have honed, hesitantly expressing a prideful amount of solitude.

"Mind if I join you?" The soft tone, one that plucks at your stings of sanity, activates a softness within your mind, despite the trust you hold waltzing elsewhere from his callous fingertips.

"Go ahead, Eren," Guiltily, an unwritten amount of savoured remorse plagues the sanity of your corroded mind — your words of undying horror etched your mind with unfulfillment.

The words you had paired up with levels with the phrase that induced meaningful harm, smudging your mind with a status of untimely guilt.

"It'd be awkward going to a whole different place," He murmurs, his frame cosied beside your own — leaving you attempting to diminish the feelings that choke you.

"Yeah," You feel his eyes dance across the side of your face, painting you with dirty guilt.

There is no motivation there. There is no motivation towards you glancing at him, meeting his earthy eyes — you are exhausted.

"Dóloraè," At the word Eren releases, your eyes instantly stain his own with enthralment.

What are his words hinting at? Especially as he remains no more than a few centimetres away from you?

"You've never called me that," Your eyes stay drawn to his tender ones, "You weren't around to see that name be born, Eren." He observes as you slightly curl into yourself, refusing to glance at him further.

Why is he so conflicting?

"..." Silence engulfs his presence.

"Did I ever truly mean something to you?" A slight wince departs from his lips as you fail to notice him inching closer, a hand of his settled upon your shoulder.

A tainted whimper erupts from his thinned-out lips, causing the moral you held to crumple — dissipating.

"You mean everything to me," His strained words cause your eyes to blossom with tears. Blossom as his hand remained against your shoulder, planting a warmth he couldn't describe with words.

"..." As silence uses the both of you as frail chest pieces, you feel Eren's fingers scatter to both sides of your shoulder — leaving you to selfishly be embraced by him.

It isn't that you yearn to be within his grasp, but you miss the entirety of it all. Missed being held by someone who once held love for you.

"I didn't take you as someone silent," Eren murmurs, his tone dishevelled as he lets himself find peace in your warmth.

He couldn't help but plant his head against the top of your head, halting. He didn't want to carry on without your approval.

"..." You refrain from answering his words.

"Sure you're okay with this?" His words are a fitting blur.

At his rushed wording, you bring yourself to grasp his firm arms — wrapping them around your nimble waist.

The feeling of his arms leaves you surrendering to the complexity of his adour; not an ounce of it had been plucked at and manipulated manually.

"Don't say anything," His hand linger around your stomach as he intakes the scent of you, grasping onto your present fears.

This moment wasn't one to rekindle a romance, but to seek a sense of closure — to you. To seek closure for the night he brought himself to remain further away from you, his presence untimely and cloudy.